Hardware business faces the future

Sep. 10, 2006

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THE JOURNAL NEWS

THE JOURNAL NEWS

It would be hard to deny the logic of United Rentals opening a branch of their hardware and contractor supply business on Liberty Street, fronting the southern border of Ground Zero.

In the course of a conversation with the new manager, Kirk Johnson, construction workers in hard hats come and go through the automatic doors. He notes there's at least a half-dozen major construction projects within several blocks of the store, which opened in April 2005. There's convenient access with the nearby West Side Highway.

"It's been really good. We're making a little money. We're not making a ton of money," said Johnson, 27. One problem is the lack of affordable space to store merchandise, he said. The business has storage closer to its two other locations uptown.

Getting the manager's job was a break for Johnson, who grew up in Connecticut and recalls spending summers as a youth at Lake Tonetta near Brewster. He was unemployed for several months after getting downsized at a solid waste operation elsewhere in the city. He was offered the job about four months ago after posting a resume on Monster.com.

There's one element about doing business at Ground Zero that he hadn't expected. Every day crowds pass by the storefront armed with still and video cameras. "It's a huge tourist destination," he said. "There's still kind of a disconnect for me.

"Numerous times I've seen people fall to their knees, weeping. It turns out they're tourists who never set foot in America. ..."